Emerald-Eyed Hero
by Azure Lightning Emerald Cloud
Summary: How did Alex retrieve Supergirl from outer-space? Like a boss.
1. Heroes

Author's Note: This is my first Supergirl story, so I hope you all enjoy it. Do please give feedback if you like it, or if you have an opinion on how to make it more to your liking. Be honest and kind with me and enjoy!

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Emerald-Eyed Hero

Part I: Heroes

Kara and Henshaw had left, but the ringing was getting louder all the time. Bodies, all around, twitching, whimpering, weeping. The General was beginning to lose consciousness, the oldest person in the room, and it showed. "Dad, stay awake!" Lucy pleaded softly. General Lane's eyes were scrunched in pain, and it was only building. But he adhered to his daughter's voice.

Suddenly, Agent Vasquez's console beeped. "Agent Danvers, it's Supergirl, she needs to talk to you." Lucy looked up as Alex Danvers eagerly took the earpiece she was offered and walked to the other side of the room. Vazquez's face was contorted in agony, same as the rest of them, but she had a flash of inspiration upon seeing the acting Director Lane and the General Lane at the foot of her chair. She quickly sent a glance at Alex, who had her back turned, before sharply nodding her head and committing to her choice. "Director, you should hear this," Agent Vasquez said as she handed Lucy her earpiece.

 _"–going to fly Fort Rozz into space myself. It's the only way we can get Myriad off the planet_." Supergirl was saying, voice layered with fear and resolution, in equal measure.

Alex's response was louder in her ear, since she had moved off away from most of her compatriots to lean over the planning table. "That is not an option Kara. Once you're in space, there's no atmosphere. There's no gravity. You wouldn't be able to generate thrust, you wouldn't be able to breathe," Lucy's eyes widened as she heard the unshakable Alex Danvers' voice tremble when she finished with, "you wouldn't be able to get back."

Supergirl's reply was as frank as it was horrific, " _There's no other way."_

Lucy missed the next bit from Alex as the unshakable feeling of sorrow welled up in her throat. Lucy's thoughts settled on one clear truth: _She's gonna die…for us._

" _There's no time, Alex_!" Kara was insisting despite Alex's futile objections. "Listen to me!" she shouts down Alex's last objection. Lucy dares to send a look at Alex, across the room. The Agent is hunched over the planning table, slumped in defeat, her right leg is shaking, and her hands are gripping the table impossibly hard. Lucy looked over then towards Superman, lying unconscious while the last of his family was negotiating her heroic suicide.

Lucy's breath caught at Kara's next words. " _I was sent to protect Earth, and that's I'm gonna do._ " Kara's voice was becoming more layered, sad. " _I need you to promise me something. I need you to promise me that when you find Jeremiah, you'll tell him that I never stopped wearing the glasses_."

Across the room, Alex let out a sob, and even General Lane, who could only make out bits of Alex's side of the conversation, seemed to grasp the gist of their conversation. He looked up at Lucy and saw that her eyes were shimmering now. "She's gonna save us, dad." She whispered as she gave him a long hug, and for the first time since she was a teenager, a heartfelt hug without reservation.

Lucy's attention was brought back to Kara and Alex's conversation, "– _a great life. A life I never thought I'd be able to find outside of Krypton_." Kara audibly inhaled, " _He needs to know that everything good I did, it came from you being my sister."_

" _You_ taught _me_ , Kara" Alex replied brokenly before Kara spoke again, faster this time.

" _I want you to have a good life. I want you to find love, and be happy."_ Kara's voice hitched now, " _I want you to do all the things that being my sister kept you from doing…Promise me."_

Alex's tears were flowing freely now. "I, I can't."

" _I need you to promise me, Alex."_ The Girl of Steel took a deep breath, trying to stave off her tears.

Lucy was crying now, she had let go of her father, and was watching Alex break down. "I promise," she got out amid sniffles.

Kara let the breath she had been holding, and Lucy was once again reminded, _She's just a girl; a girl on the verge of losing her people, us, again._

Alex looks sharply at the space ship over in the corner gathering dust, but turns back towards the table, hopelessness in her eyes. Lucy's eyes however, flare brightly as she realises there's a way to salvage this sacrifice, just maybe.

Alex's voice breaks as she says a final, "I love you Kara."

Kara's voice is almost aggressive in her reply, " _I Love You."_ and then there was no more from her. _She's gone to save us._ Lucy thought sadly. _But we have a duty to her now, to repay her love._

"KARA!" Alex begged into the forsaken earpiece despondently.

Lucy rose, slowly, staggering and catching the rail as the ringing begun to reach a crescendo.

"ALEX!" Lucy screamed above the death note in her head. Alex turned, eyes red and cheeks splotchy. Lucy beckoned to Vasquez who followed her over to Alex.

"Lucy–" Alex began as sobs threatened to overtake her voice, but Lucy didn't give her the chance as she gave Alex a tight hug.

Alex latched onto Lucy, crying openly now. "Alex, I'm asking you as your Director, to focus, so we can save Kara Zor El."

Alex Danvers' reaction was a powerful as it was expected. Lucy's use of Supergirl's full name worked exactly as she had hoped. She immediately put Lucy at arm's length, eyes blazing, "How?"

Lucy's lips quirked into a smile, "How good are you with Kryptonian Aviation?"

A couple minutes later, Agent Danvers offers a grim smile as she said quietly, "Lucy, I owe you everything."

Lucy offered her a shrug, and despite herself, she was crying too, "We already owe Kara everything. Bring our girl home. That's an order, Alex."

Alex made her descent from the heavens in a rush of fire. She had opened her cockpit, exposing herself to the vacuum, pulled her sister into the Kryptonian ship. She then immediately directed her ship towards the ocean.

She blacked out then, the lack of oxygen won out, in the end. Alex took comfort in knowing her sister would survive the inevitable crash.

The last thing she sensed before she lost consciousness was the weight and smell of Kara Zor El, the sister she didn't ask for, and the best part of her life. _Goodbye Kara, I hope you'll forgive yourself, and me, in time._

Perhaps it wasn't the worst thing, to die saving, and holding onto her most important person.


	2. Retrieval

Author's Note: Hi, I hope you enjoyed the premier! I'm so excited about Lena Luthor, and sad Lucy didn't show up...

I'm wary of how the CW will handle certain (lesbian) things on Supergirl since they have a horrific track record.  
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this next part. I have no idea how long I'll make this, so it might only be a few chapters, but then again, it may be longer, I'll (and you all) will have to wait and see.

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Part II: Retrieval

The Kryptonian lifeboat wasn't slowing down. It was plummeting toward death at a staggering rate. Director Lane's hands were running over her hair, a habit her father hadn't seen her do since that time he and Lois had their final fight face to face when Lucy was in high school.

Lucy was pacing now. The hellish ring from Myriad was gone at last, thought now they had to deal with the Kryptonian pod crashing down from low-orbit. _Did I just kill one Danvers to save the other_? "Vasquez, try them again." Lucy said tightly.

Vasquez responded with, "Agent Danvers! Supergirl! Your pod is on a crash course with Catalina Island, you need to pull up!" Vasquez turned back to her Director with tears in her eyes. Alex was the closest thing to a best friend that she had.

Lucy turned away from the fruitless attempts to hail their friends in mortal peril. She activated her own comlink, "Henshaw, do you read?"

There was only static. Director Lane waited a few moments before saying, "J'onn! Are you there!"

Frantically, she turned to her father, who had regained his feet and gave a sad shake of the head.

"J'onn here." The garbled reply finally reached Lucy's earpiece.

"Alex went up in the Kryptonian ship that brought Kara here and grabbed Kara. They're falling! Neither of them are responding and they both have been exposed to the vacuum of space. J'onn, I know you're injured, but if you don't help them, they'll crash. They are on a collision course with Catalina Island, just off the coast of National City. J'onn, Alex won't survive if they crash." Lucy got out in an emotional rush, but never fully abandoned her commanderly tone either. "J'onn! Do you copy?"

There was static again. Lucy whirled towards her father, "Dad, if there is any tech that could help them that you're keeping away from the DEO right now, because of your _racism,_ or 'national security reasons' when we really fucking need it, I swear–"

"Lucy," he said, trying to placate her, "I'm… "He seemed to reconsider whatever was about to come out of his mouth. "Not this time," he settled with.

Before Lucy could let him have it, she was headed off by, "Director!" Agent Vasquez yelled out, frantically gesturing to the readouts they had on the Danvers. There were gasps across the room.

The pod's trajectory was slowly changing, moving away from the island, eastward, between the island and the mainland.

Lucy put a hand on Vasquez's shoulder and said, "I need you to notify our retrieval and scuba teams immediately, I don't want the coast guard fishing for our people, or that pod." Vasquez nodded and made the arrangements as everyone else was fixed on the readouts of the pod's slowing journey to Earth.

By the time the Kryptonian spaceship reunited with Earth, it had completely levelled out. It skipped off the water like the smoothest of stones, but it was still a rough landing. And the perforation in the cockpit's shields was beginning to drink in water. However, thanks to Lucy's foresight, the personnel retrieval squad was there to save the sisters from drowning at least.

The oldest of the three, a man with grey-streaked hair, pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes in a pained expression he'd been assuming far too much since he joined the DEO. The younger two agents, less than four years with the DEO between the two girls, were very efficient despite their lack of experience. One of them managed to perform CPR on Agent Alex Danvers within seconds of her retrieval. The agent gave a thumbs up, Danvers was still alive.

The personnel retrieval team had just finished carefully moving Supergirl and Agent Danvers to the stretchers; Danvers also required some more extra attention, when the asset recovery team arrived.

The second team began immediately tethering the spaceship to their boat. They noted immediately that there was a clear breach in the transparent material that formed the cockpit's window. They noted it down and with a quick salute to the personnel retrieval team before starting off again back to the pickup point. The whole operation had taken less than 2 minutes.

Once the three agents transporting the Danvers had reached the threshold of the DEO, the three agents looked at each other, and after a quick exchange decided to leave the job of telling Director Lane the damage to their Section Chief.

The ride to National City Headquarters was the longest of Lucy Lane's life. One Black Escalade and one equally midnight motorcycle departed the DEO Desert Base post-haste. Though the motorcycle was creating distance to the trailing Escalade at an alarming rate. Director Lane opted for the solitary motorcycle, leaving Vasquez with her father and a couple of other agents in the Escalade.

About twenty minutes into the journey, Lucy's personal channel rang in her ear, alerting her with the ringtone she had set specifically for the Section Chief of National City. "Director Lane, are you in a car?"

 _That's an odd thing to ask._ Lucy responded, "Motorcycle."

Lucy heard a sigh from the other side that bathed her body in a sudden cold. "Pull over, please." Lucy was on the shoulder of the highway in less than ten seconds, crossing several lanes vicariously to do so. It was a good thing that she was at least a several miles ahead of her father and Agent Vasquez due to her fear fuelled speeding. It bought her a few minutes, minimum, to react. She had also left the garage in a burst of speed that no doubt irked her father too, though she hadn't cared about such trivial things in a long while.

When the Section Chief reported that Kara was going to be fine, Lucy smothered the mouthpiece of the phone in her bicep as she hugged herself let out an ugly, chocking sob, hidden from sight, muffled by her helmet, and whipped away by the roaring winds.

"Director, are you there?" Pierce asked calmly.

Gathering herself, Lucy responded with, a "Yes. Yes I am." And then it hit her why Pierce was sounding almost guarded, bracing herself. "And Alex?"

Pierce didn't mince words, and Lucy hung up. She walked a few steps to put a hand on the highway barrier to steady herself. And then shaking, she vomited onto the warm asphalt.


	3. Post-Operation

Part III: Post-Operation

The first thing she noticed was the pain. What a hollow word. The sensation Alex was feeling could not be contained in mundane term that could also describe a scraped knee. This _feeling_ was all over her body, but it was worst in her right arm and around her knees. The second thing her agony addled brain absorbed was the din, all around.

Just so many frantic noises, and that horrible smell she had naively hoped never experience again.

Bright LED lights, rickety wheels screeching, and computers beeping saturated Alex's peripheral senses as she briefly regained consciousness before fading out again due to the sedative. The last thing she heard was an authoritative voice shout, "Bring them both to the operating room!"

"Kara? Kara, are you awake?" Lucy looked around briefly as the Kryptonian stirred on her personal healing table. It was quiet, the midnight shift. Vasquez was briefing Winn and James over the phone on the situation while she was leaning against the wall with a hand to her forehead. Kara's eyes flickered as she reached out an almost unconscious hand, which Lucy grasped gingerly. "Kara, can you hear me? ' Lucy asked softly. The Kryptonian's emerald eyes opened and were immediately blurred with the tears that streamed from her eyes.

Alex's eyes flew open as the sedative finally lost its dull thrum. The agony from before had disappeared. She tried to look at her arm, but found that she couldn't move her head. It was secured in place. "Hello!" she called out. There was no attempt to disguise the fear in her voice. "Kara?" She cried out, a little softer this time. Her sister was not there to comfort her. Her eyes did the best they could, around her narrow field of vision. She was face up, looking at the ceiling's blue-tinted LED lights. _Where am I?_

Unable to move her head an inch, she did her best to take stock of the rest of her body, though the sedative must've been in her system still, she couldn't feel any of the rest of her body.

She lay there for a few more minutes without calling out again. _Where am I?_

A figure walked into the room. Alex could hear their footsteps. Alex's fears slowly began to dissipate as she recognized the blurry blonde mane that appeared above her.

"Mom?"

There was a small hiccup of a laugh and then, "I'm not Eliza, Alex." It was Kara.

Alex strained trying to get up, but of course failed. "Kara, you're ok?"

There was another watery laugh that didn't quite reach the Kryptonian's eyes. "I'm _alive_ thanks to you."

Alex sighed in relief, a few tears of relief fell back into her hair. "Good. Good." Her breath hitched as her situation really entered her mind. "Kara, I can't move. Am I broken?"

"No." Was the quick and determined reply. "You're never broken Alex." Kara's eyes bespoke an intensity even Alex could call rare.

The elder sister let out small huff of exasperation, "I'm not talking philosophically Kara. I need you to tell me how bad my injuries are. It must be bad if you're the only one in here to talk to me. Please, tell me the truth."

Kara took a deep breath and began, "Your…." Kara took another breath, trying to figure out how to put this.

Alex gulped back her tears, "Ok, so do I have any limbs left?" Her jaw was taut with fearful anticipation.

Kara nodded timidly. "You've still got your left arm, and most of your right leg."

Alex took some time to come to terms with this new information. "Your Darth Vader cosplay this year will be legendary," _Nailed it. Oh no, she's crying. Bad Kara._

Alex's breathing quickened as she strained against her neck brace and involuntary tears begin to track into their hair. "If I still have limbs, why can't I feel anything?"

Kara's expression actually lightened at Alex's fear, good news, finally. "It's the drugs. They'll wear off soon-ish. And Alex, I'm going to be here for you, always. Ok?" The younger sister laid a soft kiss on the elder's forehead.


End file.
